hypertherm 85 randomly loosing arc

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knight7338
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hypertherm 85 randomly loosing arc

Post by knight7338 »

i am having a problem with a hypertherm 85 that i hoped someone could stir me in the right direction with. The cutter is on a westcott table with an ICNC processor. it cuts good at 45amps for about twenty minutes and then it will randomly loose arc during a cut. when it does this the machine continues to travel about an inch until the processor realizes that the torch went out. the cutter fault light comes on (similar to when it looses conductivity). when you back up and resume torch on the cutter starts back up without needing to reset the box by powering off and back on.
my thought is that it has something going bad with the duty cycle, as when i put my backup cutter (another hypertherm 85) on the machine this problem no longer exists.
i have taken the cutter to Vern Lewis an authorized repair facility in Phoenix Az. and they can not find anything wrong with the cutter but they only cut with it for several minutes.
do you have any suggestions or maybe another repair site in Phoenix area that might be able to help.
i have checked all the contacts in the box to make sure not had come loose>

any help would be appreciated Thanks Jack
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Re: hypertherm 85 randomly loosing arc

Post by acourtjester »

Are you seeing an error code on the front panel of the cutter??? Two things come to mind one air supply and over heat, but I would think you would see an error. In the manual pages 149 onward shows the error messages. You may be loosing the air pressure on long cuts, compressor pressure out drops below cutting pressure.
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knight7338
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Re: hypertherm 85 randomly loosing arc

Post by knight7338 »

acourtjester,
thanks for your reply, there are no error codes the only thing is the yellow fault light on the cutter comes on. yes i think it is a heat issue within the box, which is why i suspected the duty cycle or a component associated with it. the air supply is good and with the backup cutter we never have this similar issue. the manual says that when cutting at 45amps the duty cycle is 100% , but i suspect part or a connection is getting hot and somehow loosing conductivity?
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Re: hypertherm 85 randomly loosing arc

Post by adbuch »

Have you checked to make sure that the fan is coming on? I would assume that the shop you took it to for service would have checked this - but it never hurts to ask.
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knight7338
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Re: hypertherm 85 randomly loosing arc

Post by knight7338 »

yes fan is working, but good question
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Re: hypertherm 85 randomly loosing arc

Post by adbuch »

Then maybe a faulty circuit board power transistor.

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Re: hypertherm 85 randomly loosing arc

Post by weldguy »

A fault light with no error code on the LCD screen is very strange. I would give Hypertherm tech a call and see what they say, this is a strange scenario and I am sure they will have some input into it. Also unplugging the unit and opening it up to give it a good cleaning and inspection might uncover something however if it was in for service they likely already cleaned it. If you find anything out definitely let us know.
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Re: hypertherm 85 randomly loosing arc

Post by knight7338 »

i agree about the fault light besides no error code the machine will restart with out resetting the fault light by powering off and back on. have a message into Hypertherm waiting for a response. will post when i find what the problem is.
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Re: hypertherm 85 randomly loosing arc

Post by weldguy »

Great, very curious what they say. Thanks
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Re: hypertherm 85 randomly loosing arc

Post by acourtjester »

Not sure but when removing the consumables, a yellow light comes on and will reset with a power off/on if the consumables have be reinstalled.
That may indicate the switch in the torch may be flaky for the consumables.
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Re: hypertherm 85 randomly loosing arc

Post by weldguy »

That is true Tom but in that case I would expect to see a 0-50 code on the LCD and the machines power would need to be cycled OFF and back ON before it was able to cut again.
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Re: hypertherm 85 randomly loosing arc

Post by knight7338 »

yes same yellow light that comes on, but does not need to be cycled off-on to restart. also does not do this with backup cutter installed using same torch so pretty sure it is inside the bow. tech let me know the error code is small in the lower left corner, where as i expected it to be same size as amperage so will be switching it back to the machine and seeing if i can get an error code.
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